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Prohibition

Smugglers & The Law: Prohibition In Northern New York

January 19, 2023 by John Warren 7 Comments

A recreated chase of bootleggers in Chestertown, NY in 2013 (photo by John Warren)Dennis Warren left his job as a coal shoveler on the New York Central Railroad in Albany to ship out to the First World War. His transport ship had a close call with a German submarine on the way over, but got there in time to take part in what one of the bloodiest military campaigns in American history.

For Americans after the war, the Argonne would mean what Normandy meant just 25 years later – sacrifice. Sadly, that sacrifice in the Argonne Forest was never repaid to Dennis Warren, who met the death of a smuggler – running from an officious and invasive law on a treacherous mountain road near Port Henry on Lake Champlain.

According to the newsman who reported his death at the age of 29, “Canadian Ale was spread across the road.” [Read more…] about Smugglers & The Law: Prohibition In Northern New York

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Al Smith, beer, Canada, Clinton County, Crime and Justice, DeWitt, Essex County, Franklin County, Genealogy, Journalism, Lafayette, Lake Champlain, Legal History, liquor, Manlius, Newspapers, Onondaga, Onondaga County, Oral History, Plattsburgh, Political History, Pompey, Port Henry, Prohibition, Quebec, Rouses Point, Route 9, St Lawrence County, State Police, SUNY Plattsburgh, Vice, World War One

When Manhattan Spoke German: Lüchow’s, Würzburger & Little Germany

November 2, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp 6 Comments

Lüchow’s in April 1896Since it foundation, German settlers had been present in New Amsterdam (Peter Minuit was a native of Wesel am Rhein), but the significant arrival of German-speaking migrants took place towards the middle of the nineteenth century. By 1840 more than 24,000 of them had made New York their home.

In the next two decades, when large parts of the territory were plunged into deep socio-political and economic problems, another hundred thousand Germans crossed the Atlantic turning New York into the world’s third-largest German-speaking city, after Berlin and Vienna. [Read more…] about When Manhattan Spoke German: Lüchow’s, Würzburger & Little Germany

Filed Under: Arts, Food, History, New York City Tagged With: beer, Culinary History, Cultural History, German-American History, Immigration, Lower East Side, Manhattan, Nativism, New York City, Performing Arts, Prohibition, World War One

Early Distilling History: Puritan Bibles, Gin & Schnapps

September 12, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

nineteenth century English print of A Dutch Gin MerchantFor the first decade of its existence, New Amsterdam was a rough place. Located on the tip of Manhattan Island, it was a haven for pirates and smugglers. Many of the earliest rules and regulations were an attempt to control the unruly citizens of a backwater outpost, but officials proved unable to lay down the law. Intemperate drinking was one of the problems.

In 1640 permission was granted by Willem Kieft, Director of the New Netherland Colony, for liquor to be distilled on Staten Island – in contemporary Dutch: Staaten Eylandt – where what is believed to have been the first commercial distillery in North America was built (today Staten Island is home to the Booze History Museum). [Read more…] about Early Distilling History: Puritan Bibles, Gin & Schnapps

Filed Under: Food, History, New York City Tagged With: Brooklyn, Culinary History, Dutch History, liquor, London, Medical History, Netherlands, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, New York City, Prohibition, Spain, Staten Island, Vice

The Cake Walk, Prohibition & John Philip Sousa: Ragtime Wild Paris

November 14, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Daniel Chester French, bronze statue of George Washington at Place d’Iéna, Paris, 1900One of the effects of colonial expansion in the nineteenth century was that museums stopped being exclusively Euro-centered. The mapping of the annexed world was a responsibility of colonial governments which employed scholars to carry out the tasks of collecting and recording. Curators changed their collecting focus.

Works of art from Africa and Pacific Oceania that were looted, stolen or cheaply acquired without concern about provenance, found their way from British, French, Dutch, and Belgian colonial territories to the museums and curiosity shops of Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Brussels. [Read more…] about The Cake Walk, Prohibition & John Philip Sousa: Ragtime Wild Paris

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: 1870 Franco-Prussian War, Cultural History, Dance, French History, Harlem, Harlem Renaissance, Jazz, modernism, Musical History, Performing Arts, Prohibition

Gamblers and Gangsters of Saratoga

August 17, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

"Killer" Madden (at far left), notorious underworld figure, enjoys a laugh with a few of his pals in the dining room of the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga SpringsSaratoga has always been a gambling town. Even before the famous racetrack was built, Saratoga was full of gambling dens.

Many of the early gambling places were run by men who were considered “gentlemen gamblers.” They ran relatively clean games and generally avoided violence or other forms of vice. They were professional gamblers.

Later, with gambling well entrenched and Saratoga’s location along the notorious bootleg trail from Canada during prohibition, Saratoga attracted nationally known gangsters. [Read more…] about Gamblers and Gangsters of Saratoga

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Crime and Justice, Gambling, Prohibition, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Saratoga Race Course, Saratoga Springs, Vice

Spiritualism, Temperance, the Grange and More (Historians Podcast)

August 6, 2021 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

The Historians LogoThis week on The Historians Podcast, town historian Todd Langworthy on how Lily Dale in the Town of Pomfret in Western New York became a center for spiritualism. Pomfret also was the place where the Women’s Christian Temperance Union began and where the first farmers’ Grange was founded. And the town is home to the village of Fredonia and the SUNY College at Fredonia. [Read more…] about Spiritualism, Temperance, the Grange and More (Historians Podcast)

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Agricultural History, Cultural History, Podcasts, Political History, Prohibition, Spiritualism, womens history

Corinth’s 1919 German–American Club Fire

June 24, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Corinth German-American Club ca 1910In the early morning hours of July 4, 1919, a fire alarm was sounded in the village of Corinth, Saratoga County. Many residents thought some kids were celebrating Independence Day a bit early, but when the International Paper Mill fire whistle sounded everyone knew it was real.

The popular German-American Club next to a creek on lower Pine Street was ablaze. [Read more…] about Corinth’s 1919 German–American Club Fire

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Corinth, Corinth Museum, Fires, German-American History, Immigration, Industrial History, Irish Immigrants, Labor History, Prohibition, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, World War One

A Short Book On Prohibition in the Hudson Valley

April 3, 2021 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

Prohibition in the Hudson Valley bookEleanor Charwat’s short book Prohibition in the Hudson Valley, Along the Bootleg Trail (self published, 2017) looks back at the prominent role the Hudson Valley played in bootlegging during the Prohibition Era.

Local producers, distributors and sellers of illegal liquor were overshadowed and sometimes terrorized by New York City gangsters like Dutch Schultz, Legs Diamond and Salvatore Maranzano who came to the Hudson Valley to make money and escape federal surveillance. [Read more…] about A Short Book On Prohibition in the Hudson Valley

Filed Under: Books, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Books, Hudson Valley, Political History, Poughkeepsie, Prohibition

The Fitzgerald Brewery: A Short History

February 24, 2021 by Suzanne Spellen 4 Comments

Fitzgerald Brothers Brewing Company in TroyLet us raise a glass to beer, the drink that has fueled America since its beginnings. Beer was such a popular drink that most cities during parts of the nineteenth century there were almost as many breweries as houses of worship.

One source lists 34 breweries in Troy at one point. Some only lasted a couple of years, while others endured, even beyond Prohibition. One of the oldest and largest of Troy’s breweries was the Fitzgerald Brewery. [Read more…] about The Fitzgerald Brewery: A Short History

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Food, History Tagged With: beer, Industrial History, Prohibition, Troy

Prohibition In North Country Project Supported With Grant

February 14, 2021 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

The Clinton County Historical Association has been awarded $7,500 in Grant Funding from the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership for an exhibit and public  presentation on the story of the Prohibition Era in the North Country. [Read more…] about Prohibition In North Country Project Supported With Grant

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Clinton County, Clinton County Historical Association, Historic Preservation, Prohibition

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